Fear Itself
by TheVampireLucinda
Summary: 8 WWE Superstars are invited to the grand opening of a new haunted house on Halloween Night, and show up in front of an old building. It's creepy, but how scary can a haunted house be? I mean, it's all kid's stuff, right? Right? Complete!
1. Invitation to Darkness

**Title: **Fear Itself

**Characters:** Various WWE Superstars

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything...except myself. Please don't send me to jail. ;) Some slashy elements (of course), but nothing too obvious or explicit. I mean, the guys **do **have wives and kids in this one... (laugh) Also, some of the Superstars' fears are what they themselves have said (in real life). Others are made up. Eh. But all of the chapter names are names of actual phobias...fyi. XD

But it will get a little intense...

**Summary:** So, my Musi were bugging me about having a Halloween adventure... As it turns out, the boys get more than they bargained for... This story won't be too long, I promise. ;)

* * *

Shawn Michaels was sitting in his house, resting on a rare day off, when he heard an annoying knock at the door. "Hunter, get the door!" he called from his chair, not willing to move. Rebbecca and the kids were at the park, and Hunter had come over—as he often did—just to hang out with his best friend.

"You're closer!" Triple H called from somewhere in the basement...most likely from the gym, Shawn figured.

"I don't feel like getting up!"

"Well, I'm bench pressing a couple hundred pounds at the moment!"

The Heartbreak Kid rolled his eyes and pulled himself off the couch. He threw open the door, but, to his surprise, didn't see anyone there. "Hello?" he called, looking out the door and down the street. Not a soul. "Anyone?" With a shrug, he went to close the door, when a black envelope caught his eye.

"And what's this?" he wondered aloud, picking up the letter and bringing it in with him. There was no address written on the front; only his name, and Hunter's. He opened it slowly and took out the paper inside.

"Who was that?" the Game asked, coming up from the basement, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel. "The mailman?"

"I think so..." Shawn said slowly, as he read the paper. "But he only brought this." He handed the letter to Hunter, who read it with a frown.

_Dearest WWE Superstars,_

_You are cordially invited to the grand opening of **TheVampireLucinda's Horror and Fun House **this Halloween. Your "tour" will begin at midnight, and will continue until you exit the structure. The Owner has chosen several WWE Superstars to test the **Horror and Fun House** because she is confident that you will all be able to give her an objective, calm, rational review of the facilities so that improvements can be made when terrifying future customers._

_For the sake of ease, please dress comfortably, as the **House** is very interactive. _

_And, finally, TheVampireLucinda guarantees that you will have the time of your life! Her entire House is furnished with state-of-the-art robotics and set designs, and is staffed by the finest masters of terror. Her policy guarantees real screams, real terror, real fear! Of course, if the experience becomes too intense, there is a safety mechanism that will allow the tourist to leave the facility... _

_As of yet, no one has gone through the entire house without breaking down, not even the Owner._

_If interested, please RSVP online at with the code "WWE." Your reservations will be automatically added, and directions will be sent to you via email._

_I look forwards to seeing you...and hearing your screams._

_TVL_

"Creepy!" Hunter said with a laugh, folding the letter back up. "Let's do it!"

Shawn looked at him as though he had grown another head. "Are you nuts? The only one crazier than the sicko that invented that 'Horror and Fun Place' or whatever would be the idiots willing to go in!" The Heartbreak Kid shook his head. "Sorry, but I have no desire to have a premature heart attack."

Triple H smirked. "Oh...so what you're saying is that you're a chicken."

Shawn's eye twitched. "Chicken?"

"Yeah, you're a big chicken! And a baby! You're a _baby chicken_! You're a _chick_!" Hunter began pretending to peck the ground around Shawn, clucking and making random baby sounds while laughing the entire time.

Shawn endured the mocking for a few seconds before tackling Triple H to the ground.

"I'll show you who's a chick!" he growled as they tussled on the floor.

"Prove it!" Hunter choked out as Shawn grabbed his hair and tugged hard. "Ow! No fair!"

"Fine, I'll go to the stupid Haunted Fun Place and watch _you_ cry like a baby! How about that!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

* * *

"What on Earth am I doing here?" Shawn wondered as he and Hunter passed the gates of what seemed to be a Halloween themed carnival. It was nearly midnight, and as they walked in, the first thing that they saw was a giant concrete building with a tent connected to the side. On the giant sign, it said "Horror and Fun House" written in what seemed to be dried blood.

"Well, that's inviting," Shawn muttered, rubbing the backs of his arms, feeling goosebumps already. Hunter had him by the elbow, and was pulling him along.

"Hey, look! Some of the guys are here!" Triple H said, waving to a group of wrestlers waiting outside the strange structure. Shawn waved at the group as well , sighing to himself. Were they all insane?

Nearest the giant iron doors was John Cena, and by him stood Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio. Together and off to the side stood the Undertaker and Kane, with the former looking slightly annoyed. As DX approached, the brothers gave them a small nod.

Pulling away from Hunter, Shawn sidled over to 'Taker.

"You don't want to be here either, I'm assuming?" he asked with another sigh.

"Nope. Kane dragged me out here with the threat of blackmail."

The Big Red Machine laughed. "C'mon 'Taker. The best way to see how scary this place is would be to see if it can scare you." His laugh became somewhat maniacal. "I'd kill to hear you scream in horror, Bro."

The Undertaker rolled his eyes. "Do you see what I have to put up with?" he asked, turning to Shawn, who nodded.

"Yeah...I'm here because Hunt called me a chicken. Well, a baby chicken."

"A chick?" Cena chimed in, drawing a laugh from Triple H, who wasn't far off.

"See Shawn, it makes sense!" he said, putting an arm around his friend.

"Then 'Taker's a chick too!" Kane volunteered, earning a punch in the arm from his big brother. "Ow!"

"I didn't say I was afraid to come," the Deadman explained, eyes narrowing. "I just...would rather stay home than waste my time here in some stupid fun house."

"Actually, it's a fun _and_ horror house," Randy laughed. "What a stupid name."

Rey scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Y'know, I don't think that normal people associate the words 'fun' and 'horror.' The owner must be a freak." As he was speaking, Edge ran up to the group, panting, looking very disheveled.

"I'm not late, am I?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.

'Taker looked down at his watch. "Actually, it's just now midnight, so--"

A loud creaking of iron scraping against iron cut his sentence short, and everyone turned to look at the huge door as the slowly swung open. For a moment, no one moved to go in—it was pitch black inside.

"Should we, uh, speak with the owner first?" Shawn asked, grabbing on to Hunter's arm. He absolutely hated how dark it was in there... "You know, let her know that we're here?"

"I think she knows already," Kane said, pointing the sign. The letters on it had somehow changed, and now read:

** The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. --H.P Lovecraft.**

Cena shrugged. "I guess that means we should go in," he said, scratching his head.

"Wow, ladies and gentlemen, we have a _genius_ on our hands!" Edge said sarcastically, as Randy laughed and high-fived him.

"Shut up and let's get this over with," 'Taker growled, striding inside. Everyone followed in behind him, not knowing what to expect, but anticipating something that would, at the very least, be exciting.

* * *

_Let the games begin!_

_Review?_


	2. Lygophobia

_Hello all! I'm back, and with the next chapter of **Fear Itself.** Hurray! I'm kidding. But, seriously, things have been hectic, and I'm sorry for the slow updates...I have about three separate stories going on right about now, and, to make this a shameless plug (hahahaha), they are this story, **To Be Loved**, and the Round Robin masterpiece **Sail Away**, initiated by the great **Souless666**, and, simply put, a great story with great writers. I definitely recommend checking it out...and **To Be Loved** too, if slash is your thing. XP_

_Anyway, I'd like to say thanks for all of the positive feedback...I love a good horror story/thriller, but I don't know about my abilities to write one...I tend to be too light-hearted at times, but I guess I can be serious too, when I have to be. But my Musi like both...and they've been begging for this, so... XD_

_So, onto the story, enough babbling. Uh, as always, I don't own anything. As I mentioned before, some of these phobias are the Superstar's actual fears; some are made up completely; some are my own. But all of them are legit fears, and each chapter title will give you a clue as to what will be happening in that chapter...so feel free to Google it, or something, lol.  
_

_Wow, I talk too much. Onto the story!_

* * *

"I can't see a damn thing," Hunter whispered, glad to have Shawn at his side in the impenetrable darkness. His grip on the smaller man became as tight as the man's grip on him as the minutes in absolute darkness passed. "Does anyone even know where we're going?"

"Not a clue," 'Taker said in his usual deadpan I-don't-want-to-be-here voice. "I'm just walking forwards and hoping you all are still behind me."

"Well...We can hold hands so that no one gets lost," Cena suggested, drawing a laugh from the other men.

"Yeah right, the only ones who'll be willing hold hands are Shawn and Hunter," Edge snickered with a toss of his blond hair.

"What about you and Randy?" Rey challenged.

Orton pouted in the darkness. "Hey!" He tried to turn to face Rey, but realized he had no idea where the smaller man was, so he gave up the search pretty quickly.

"Hey, _here's_ an idea... Let's go back outside where there's actually _light_," Shawn said irritably. He absolutely hated being in the dark. "I don't like this..."

"Stop being a damn coward," Randy sneered, and felt someone slap him hard in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Shut up!" the Undertaker and Triple H barked in unison.

The group continued to walk, and the darkness deepened around them. Several minutes passed, it seemed, in which nothing happened. After a while, though, 'Taker put his hand out in front of him when he felt a sudden change in the air flow.

"Looks like this is a dead end," he said with a roll of his green eyes as his hands touched a concrete wall.

Randy sighed loudly. "Good leading, Captain," he said sarcastically. "Now what do we do?"

"How about we go back a few steps and see if there are any turns, or something," John suggested. "I mean, there has to be more to this place than just a long, dark hallway, right?"

"Or, how about you all shut the hell up and let me think," the Undertaker hissed.

"C'mon guys, let's not fight." Shawn shook his head. "And trust me, there aren't any turns. I had my other hand against the wall the whole time."

Kane sighed in the darkness. "Look, guys, we're obviously not doing something right...or missing something obvious." He felt around the wall, and after a few long moments stumbled upon a switch. "Aha! And let there be light," he whispered before flipping it.

Suddenly, the entire place was illuminated. The men were all in a large area, with a giant screen and chairs. The room was surrounded by image-distorting mirrors, and really _did_ look like a fun house. The walls even resembled a tent.

"Good thinking," 'Taker said, giving the Big Red Machine a pat on the shoulder.

Cena blinked. "I guess this is where we're supposed to be."

"And he's two for two! Will wonders never cease?!" Edge said with mock enthusiasm, laughing as Randy high-fived him again.

"You know, you two are _really _getting annoying," Cena growled.

"I second that," Rey added quietly.

"Well, is this it?" Hunter asked with a frown as his gaze swept the room. "That was boooooring!"

"This _can't_ be it," Kane said softly. "The owner appears to know what she's doing, judging by the make of this room." He looked around once, before looking at the men in front of him. "I don't know if you all can feel it, but something is definitely odd here."

Shawn started to say something, when the screen suddenly crackled to life, making him jump a little, and grip Triple H's arm even tighter.

The words **Have a Seat** flashed on the screen, and the 8 men sat down on the small chairs. The screen flickered again, and the following sentence ran across it:

**Everyone has a phobia...and we will find yours...We know your deepest fears...and make them a reality within these doors.**

"Creepy," Cena muttered to himself, shifting in his chair.

"It's obviously a bluff," Edge said with a roll of his eyes. "There's no way they could know our deepest fears unless we told them."

"Duh," Randy concluded.

The screen went black, and another message soon appeared:

**Turn the crank of the Jack-in-the-Box, and the game will begin.**

"Jack in the box?" Rey asked aloud, looking around, as did the others. "Do you guys see anything?"

"No, I don't see...wait, here they are, they're under the chairs!" Kane said suddenly, pulling up a black box with a small crank. The other men followed suit, and soon they were all holding the black boxes, which seemed to be shut tightly.

"Guys, I don't like this," Shawn said quietly. "Something bad always happens when you play with these things."

Edge sneered. "What, are you scared of little clowns now too, Michaels?"

"Shut up," Shawn growled, eyes narrowing. "I'm not _scared_, I'm just saying that I have a bad feeling about this...I don't think I'm going to turn it."

"Chicken," Randy pretended to cough, and Shawn stuck his tongue out at him.

"Come on, Shawn, we'll protect you," John said gently, giving the Heartbreak kid a pat on the leg. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

Kane shook his head. "Don't say that."

"Well, we'll never know what'll happen until we try," 'Taker said, putting his hand on the crank. "Shall we do it in unison?"

"Makes sense...so no one will be prematurely frightened," Hunter said with a smile, looking over at Shawn, who was shaking his head, but ready to turn the crank. "Ready guys? On the count of three... One...two...three!"

The guys began to crank the boxes, and a familiar children's tune played.

_All around the mulberry bush/the monkey chased the weasel/the monkey thought 'twas all in fun/POP--_

Instead of jack emerging from the box, 8 screams were heard as a trap door opened below each chair, plunging the Superstars into the impenetrable darkness of an abyss.

_Goes the weasel._

* * *

_Alright, confession... Jack-in-the-boxes creep me out. (looks around nervously)  
_

_Review?_


	3. Arachnophobia

_Wow, thanks so much for the reviews and reads, guys and gals! It's really encouraging, lol! I'm happy to see some new reviewers, and, of course, I'm happy to see some old friends. (grin) I'm glad you all are enjoying it, at least a little, because I sure am._

_Honestly, I kinda...creeped myself out with this chapter... (shivers) Ugh, I thought I had to "get in the mood" to write, and so I did an experiment...and now I'm all twitchy...You'll see. _

_Onto the story!_

* * *

Randy Orton screamed all the way down the chute, as much from fear as from surprise, before landing on his back on the cold floor.

"Ow, dammit," he growled, sitting up slowly. The box he had been holding hit the ground a moment after him, and the 3rd generation Superstar tossed it away angrily. "If I'm bruised up, I'll sue you, ya crazy bitch!" he yelled into the darkness, assuming that their "hostess" was watching somehow.

With a sigh, he stood, checking himself for damage and finding none. It was pitch black, but he could see the outline of a door not far away, and there seemed to be light on the other side.

'Guess I'm going there,' he thought, another annoyed sigh escaping his lips. The only reason he had agreed to come to this ridiculous "Horror and Fun House" was because he had assumed that the owner was some hot, clueless chick hoping to make a few bucks by scaring him with girls in skimpy vampire costumes.

Obviously, this wasn't the case.

"Last time I ever accept an invitation from some with the word 'vampire' in her name," he grumbled, at last reaching the door and pushing it open slowly. He peeked inside—it seemed alright. The walls were all white, and it was illuminated by several standing lamps, which gave everything in the room a sinister shadow, even the other lamps. On the other side of the room was a large red button with an inscription above it:

**Push to escape. Do not push. Push to see the truth. DO NOT PUSH!**

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Randy asked aloud, walking over to the button. "Push to see the truth?" He scratched his hairless chin. "Well, I want to get out of here, so..." Hesitantly, he pushed the button.

The door behind him slammed shut, startling him, but it seemed as though nothing else was happening. RKO sighed and looked around, not seeing any other way out. He went back over to the door, hoping to force it open, when something on the handle made him freeze in his tracks.

There, resting on the door handle, was the single biggest fucking spider he had ever seen in his life.

"Holy shit!" Randy yelled, backing away, even though he wasn't close to the creature. He stared at it in horror—it was bigger than his hand, hairy as hell, and pure black. It's body was perfectly still, but it's legs moved in that random clutching way that spider's legs do. Vaguely, Orton understood it to be a tarantula...and it was standing between him and his way out.

"Dammit," the young man muttered, wiping the thin sheen of sweat that now covered his brow. He stared at the creature for a long moment, neither really moving.

He thought suddenly of Shawn, and how frightened he was coming in. Now he _definitely_ wished he had listened to the older man. There was more to this "Horror and Fun House" than he originally guessed.

'She really _did_ know my phobia...' he thought, feeling a wave of fear pass over him. 'So how the hell am I supposed to get out of this room?!' His eyes swept the area again, and he didn't see a way out, but he did notice something odd about the walls...They looked to be becoming...transparent...

Randy walked over to one of the walls, the one nearest the button and furthest the spider, and touched it carefully.

"Glass," he whispered, shaking his head. The walls were glass, and, somehow, by pressing that button, they were becoming more and more transparent by the second. After about a minute, or so, Randy could make out something just beyond the glass, like the wall itself was squirming...

"Oh God help me," the Legend Killer said in a voice less than a whisper, backing away and feeling tremors overtake him. "Oh, shit."

The room he was in was a glass box...a glass box surrounded on the outside with dozens, _hundreds_ of spiders. Some were obviously poisonous, others were as large as the tarantula on the door, and others even larger than _that,_ with wicked hairy legs and protruding fangs.

Remembering the door, Randy turned to it, hoping to throw it open and get the hell out of here, but he was met with a sight just as horrible as the one around him. Now the door was _covered_ with spiders, and it was in that moment that Randy realized that somehow they were _getting into the room_.

"Oh God, oh God," he said, over and over again as he looked for a way out. He looked up—even the ceiling was covered with them, more so than the walls, and now not only on the outside.

A flesh-tingling, itching feeling began to creep up Randy's back, and in panic, he ripped his shirt off, certain that a spider had been crawling on him. As he tossed the shirt down, none presented themselves, and the tingling feeling began to grow, and he felt it cover the surface of his skin, running down his arms and legs.

Orton scratched himself desperately, compulsively, twitching now, body shaking violently. He knew that in a few moments he was going to vomit, and probably pass out. The room started to spin as the creatures now on the inside and out continued to crawl.

Suddenly he felt a large, warm hand on his head.

A hand with eight fingers.

Shrieking, Randy clawed at his head, running around the room, trying to get the tarantula off by any means, panic increasing when he felt a similarly warm "hand" on his shoulder, and then clutching his ankle. Screaming, he tried to shake the spiders off, but they seemed to hang on tight, too tight. He flailed and shouted, eventually tiring and falling to the ground in a fetal position, sobbing softly, trembling as the lights in the room began to dim into complete darkness, and the spiders on the ceiling began to descend slowly upon him.

* * *

_There's **definitely **more to this "Horror and Fun House" than the guys thought!_

_Confession 2: I HATE spiders.  
_

_Review?  
_


	4. Altophobia

_Hello everyone! I'm back again; sorry for the week-long wait. I was on Fall Break, and couldn't really upload anything from home. I was also doing an essay. (sighs) Ah, well. Thanks to everyone who has read/reviewed. It makes me happy. XD So, yeah, here's the next chapter with our next victim... Oh, and speaking of victims, I realized a few days ago that I have a Jericho Muse (!) and he was mad that I didn't include him in the story. I'll make it up to him...somehow...later... (grins)_

_Anyway, enough of my babbling. Onto the next chapter! Oh, and the next chapter of **To Be Loved **will be up in...3 minutes or so. XD_

* * *

Rey, like Randy, screamed all the way down, although his fall was much shorter, and came to an abrupt and painful stop that cut his cry short, a cry that ended in a grunt of pain as loud as the cracking sound that echoed through the room he had fallen into.

"I _really_ hope that wasn't anything important," Rey groaned, lying very still on his back, wondering if the sound had been one of his bones or the cold, smooth ground he was now lying on. Lying there, he began to take in the sight of the room. The room he was in was, thankfully, well lit, and he could see that it was very empty. The ceiling he had fallen from wasn't very far away, in fact, the ceiling seemed oddly low, but whatever hole he had fallen from was closed now, and he doubted that he could have reached it even if he stood up. Seeing as how he didn't feel any pain, he began to sit up slowly, wincing when he heard another crack seemingly from right below him, hoping to try and find the trap door he had fallen through and make his way back up.

"Did I break my tailbone?" he wondered aloud as he heard another crack, hands resting behind him to support his weight. He noticed immediately that the floor was very, very smooth, and he could just barely feel fissures in it's surface. This confused him greatly until he turned to look down at the floor.

Rey felt his heart stop in his chest as his mind sought to make sense of what his eyes were seeing.

"It can't be," he whispered, voice echoing in the sudden silence.

The floor he was now sitting on was made entirely out of clear glass. Below him, he could see what resembled the terrible drop of a mine shaft, probably going down 20 feet—at least, as much as the well-placed lights illuminated. The rest of the shaft was in complete darkness, and there was no telling how far down it actually went.

"That's not...that's not possible," he whispered, turning slightly, and then freezing as he realized what that cracking sound was.

The glass floor, the only thing keeping him from falling down into an endless oblivion, was splintered.

Where he had landed after his initial fall, the fissures were the greatest, radiating out from around him like the delicate threads of a spider web. And every time he moved, the fissures became that much deeper, that much longer, the entire floor threatening to shatter and let him fall into the darkness.

Mysterio forced himself to breathe in and out as sweat began to pour down his back. A strong wave of dizziness passed over him, and he resisted the urge to throw up and faint. His mind raced back to what he had read in that accursed letter, and the words they had seen on the screen in the first room.

"Please let me out," he whispered, certain that the "Hostess" was watching. "I'm scared...you win..." His eyes darted around the room nervously, and he prayed for some sign that he was going to be let out of this torment. Absently, he reasoned that it probably wasn't too hard for the owner of this place to know his fear of heights, since he had stated it pretty explicitly in a few interviews, but he never expected _this_. This was truly dangerous, and he didn't see a way that he could get out except by falling to his death...

'No, calm down and think,' he told himself, inhaling and exhaling slowly again. 'There should be a way out...maybe if I can reach the trap door in the ceiling...' Slowly, he began to shift so that he was on his hands and knees, every movement generating a crack in the glass floor that made his heart pound harder. As he turned, his eyes fell upon was seemed to be a ladder, set up at the edge of the glass floor. His eyes widened as burst of hope made him gasp.

'Is that the way out?' he wondered, squinting to better see. Yes, it was indeed a ladder...however, it was several feet away from him, meaning he'd have to crawl across the already-fissured glass to reach it, and even when he did reach it, he had no idea where it'd lead, because half-way across the ladder was nothing but darkness.

"I have to try," he told himself, closing his eyes and moving forwards a little. The glass groaned and cracked and splintered under him, making him cringe every time, but he continued to crawl, slowly and carefully towards the horizontal ladder.

However, when he was about 3 feet away, the floor cracked in a way the made Rey open his tear-filled eyes. There was a long fissure right below him, between his knees and hands. It seemed to go right from the spot where he had landed to the direction that he'd been crawling in. Of course, this brought his gaze back down to the terrible drop below him, and he felt the dizziness again. The poor man froze entirely, heart pounding. He had the sickening sense that if he moved another inch, the glass would shatter completely...

"God, what am I supposed to do now?" he asked aloud, body trembling with barely contained sobs. "Please, God, I don't want to die, not like this..." He put one hand forwards, but the glass only splintered more, and now it seemed the whole floor looked like a spider web.

Rey stretched his one arm forwards, hoping that, if he could get one hand gripping the ladder, whatever was holding it up on the other side would keep him from falling.

"Please, let me make it, please..." he prayed as he inched forwards. After a few agonizing moments, his fingers brushed the edge of the ladder, and again, hope flared in his heart. "Yes, please..."

However, in the heavy silence, the sound of a door opening startled him suddenly, and he turned his head to where the sound was coming from. He slowly realized that his trap door had somehow opened again, and it sounded like something was falling down his chute...

"No!" Rey screamed, turning as best his could, beginning to crawl back to where he had first landed, his fear of the fissured glass replaced by a sense of urgency. The familiar, once-friendly tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel" began to echo down the tube Rey had fallen from, and he scrambled to reach the tumbling jack-in-the-box before it--

Too late. The black box fell straight down the chute, and hit the glass with enough force to shatter it completely, and go straight through. With a terrified scream, Rey watched as the floor below him splintered and dissolved beneath his fingers, sending him shrieking down into the abyss as he clawed at the empty air.

* * *

_O.o Poor Rey-Rey..._

_Review?_


	5. Taphophobia

_Hello everyone! Guess who's back with another chapter! (laughs) I've decided, as I write this, to keep the chapters short, and erm, sweet Or, as sweet as I can be, which usually involves someone getting hurt. XD _

_Anyway, thanks everyone for the reviews/favorites/alerts. It's always fun to read what y'all write. XD And props to Souless, who pointed out that Rey would have been better off going for the ladder. I actually considered that when I was writing that, but then I thought, "Nah, fear usually prevents people from thinking straight, so..." And then Souless said that same thing! Great minds think alike. (wink) _

_Anyway, enough talking, on to the story!_

* * *

"Goddamn it!" Edge yelled angrily as his back hit the floor when his decent finally ended. He shut his eyes, sighing with relief when he realized that he wasn't hurt, and had actually landed in something soft. Groaning again, he sat up, comprehending the soft substance he had landed on to be a mound of dirt.

"Fantastic," he muttered, looking around slowly. Edge began to dust off his arms and shoulders, sighing. "Now I'm going to look like hell..." He shook his long blond hair out, watching the many particles float around in the semi-darkness.

The Rated-R Superstar sat on the pile of dirt for a few moments, wondering what he was supposed to do next. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was all a part of some grand scheme to scare him, but he wondered just what whoever invited him here presumed his "phobia" to be. Even _he_ wasn't too sure what it was that he feared most, but he figured that whatever it was, it couldn't be too bad.

What was the worst that could happen?

"Damn it all," he said after a few minutes, sliding down the mound and landing carefully on his feet. Obviously, whatever was going to happen wasn't going to come to him.

Edge wandered around the room for a while, stretching out his arms in order to feel a wall so that he could follow it, hopefully to a door or some way out. He had hoped that his eyes would adjust somewhat, but for some reason it just wasn't happening. He was as half-blind after several minutes of wandering as he was when he had first opened his eyes in this...place. Adam walked quickened his pace as he began to become frustrated with the seemingly endless room. How big could this place be?

However, as he walked, he found himself suddenly stumbling forwards as his foot hit nothing but air.

Throwing himself backwards, very much now off-balance, Edge landed hard on his backside, grimacing as he looked forwards. His light eyes widened as he took in the sight in front of him. Somehow, there was a patch of darkness even darker than the surrounding room. It was as though he was looking into nothingness and seeing an even _deeper_ nothingness.

Vaguely, Adam understood it to be a 6-foot-deep hole in the ground, directly in front of him.

"Oh shit!" he gasped, scrambling away backwards, still on his back. With a shudder, he thought about how close he had come to falling in, unable to tear his eyes away from the gaping hole.

'God, how the hell did she...assume...' he began to wonder as he inched backwards towards the wall, hand at last reaching it's comforting solidness. He sat there for a long moment, breathing deeply in and out, trying to regain his calm and slow his pounding hear. Slowly, he stood and began to make his way along the wall, keeping his eyes on the ground, worried now about further traps.

Going in the opposite direction this time, sticking to the wall still, with a sigh of relief, he reached what felt like a door and forced it open with a few hard shoves with his shoulder.

Edge stumbled into another room, this one much darker, but with the clear outline of a well-lit door at the end.

"Thank goodness," he whispered, exhaling deeply, and started running towards the door. He wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. Just the sight of the hole had made him break out into a light sweat, and he knew that anything else would--

"Shit!" Edge gasped, as he found himself suddenly falling forwards, landing face first into something that felt oddly like a cushion. He was immediately aware of the closeness of the space he was in, and the cushioning all around him. A dim-but-strong-enough light turned on, then, and Edge became aware of his fate.

"A coffin?" he asked soundlessly, quickly pushing himself up with his hands, only to be forced down on his face by the glass lid of the casket. For a moment, he was certain that he would die of fright, as the sides of the coffin began to smother him.

"No!" he screamed as he turned on his back, hoping to pit the strength of his spine against the bottom of the coffin and force his way out. Much to his horror, however, the lid was heavy and would not move, and now that he was looking up, he became aware of the slit opening in the ceiling, and of the dirt sliding through it.

He understood that within a matter of minutes, he'd be buried alive.

"She knew..." he whispered, as the dirt began to collect on the lid, blocking out the little bit of light that had seeped in from the nearby door. His mind raced ahead to what the future would hold, and he wondered with startling clarity whether he would die of terror first, which would be a quick enough death, or if he would live long enough to suffocate, or even longer to starve to death. His mind was going a mile a minute, and he could feel his sanity slipping with each thought.

Soon enough, he couldn't see anything over the layer of soil that covered the lid. Involuntarily, his hands began to push desperately at the lid, screams tearing from his throat until his muscles began to burn with the strain, until his voice became hoarse and broken.

All at once, Edge went still, despair crushing what was left of his spirit. Unbeknownst to him, someone was bearing witness to the end of his trial.

'I almost made it,' he thought, tears filling his eyes before flowing freely down his face. Now there was only the sound of dirt falling from the ceiling, burying the unfortunate man in the coffin alive, and his near-silent sobs as he closed his eyes against the darkness that was now his.

* * *

_Poor Edge...and I've always had a fear of being buried alive, too._

_Review?_


	6. Claustrophobia

_Hello all! I'm back with another chapter of **Fear Itself**. Huzzah! Sorry for the delay...I've been busy with schoolwork (of course), and I was still getting over the trauma of having finished **To Be Loved**, lol. Seriously, now that that's done, I have, like, 5 one-shots in the works...it's kinda ridiculous. My Musi won't leave me alone, and they're jumbling my thoughts. Jerks. But I love 'em. XD_

_Anyway, a note on **Fear**, before we get any further: This story is somewhat kayfabed. You should be aware of that, if I haven't mentioned it already. Basically, 'Taker and Kane are really brothers, and 'Taker does have some supernatural ability. Of course, along with this fact, comes the fact that very...extraordinary things are possible while in the "Horror and Fun House." This doesn't apply to this chapter, but it will soon. (snickers)  
_

_Oh, and speaking of 'Taker, his time is coming soon. Very, very soon. (wicked laugh) Not now, but soon. ;)  
_

_Thanks for all of the reviews, and reads! I love you guys! I feel a little bad for being mean to the guy in this chapter...but, it had to be done. It was in part inspired by an old movie I saw when I was little, and in part by Poe. And speaking of Poe, fucking Jigsaw (the Saw killer guy) has _totally _been stealing my stuff, the little bugger. I'll show him horror! (thinks of ways to torture Jigsaw) XD _

_Anyway, I've again babbled enough. Onto the story!_

* * *

"Well, that wasn't fun," John Cena said with a sigh as he rose to his feet. His fall had been long, and his landing pretty hard, but everything seemed to be intact. He brushed himself off briefly before looking around.

He was in a well-lit room, surrounded on all sides by doors. The jack-in-a-box he had been holding had landed not far from him, and he walked over to it, lifting it to the light.

"Huh, I didn't notice that at first," he muttered, seeing a crack in the side. He squinted and looked into the box, not able to see much. Curious now, he began to pull at the top, trying to get it open. His muscles flexed as he pulled, but the lid was on tight and didn't budge an inch.

"Whatever," he mumbled, starting to toss the box away, when he remembered that he hadn't actually finished turning the crank before he had been dropped down that damn hole. Carefully, he put his hand on the lever and began to turn. The song began again, and at the end, the lid popped right up, revealing a folded piece of paper inside.

As Cena unfolded it, he realized that he was looking at a map of some sort. He figured that it was a map of the building they were in, because the room with the mirrors and screen was clearly marked—in fact, the room he was in now was clearly marked with an "X" with his name by it. Each door had something written above it, a small skull, except for one, which had what looked like a star...

"I'm guessing the star is where I'm going," he said softly, figuring out which door was the one marked with the star. "I wonder what's in the other rooms, though," he wondered aloud, standing in front of one of the doors marked with a skull on the map.

With great caution, he turned the doorknob, opening the door only a crack and peeking inside. It was pitch black inside, so he opened the door further, being careful not to actually enter the room.

No sooner had the door been fully opened than a low, feral growl issued forth from the shadows, and a pair of blood-red eyes opened not far away.

"Oh shit!" Cena gasped, jumping back from the door, nearly falling on his backside as it slammed shut, locking loudly. For a few seconds there was only silence, and then the sound of something heavy crashing against the door, rattling it on it's hinges, snarling and growling.

John stared at the door for a long time, paralyzed with fear. "What...what was that?!" he yelled when he found his voice again, and then looked nervously at the other doors around him. It became painfully clear to him in that moment that if hadn't had the map, he most likely would have walked into that room and would have been locked in with that...whatever it was.

"Thank God," he exhaled, looking down at the paper in his hand. He walked quickly through the door marked with a star, and found himself in a room exactly like the previous one. Not taking any chances, he walked straight through the door marked with a star, becoming more and more glad that he had the map with each passing moment. This pattern continued for two more rooms, however, when he reached the next room, he was met with a strange sight.

Instead of doors, there were only two exits—a crawl space and a large hole in the wall. Both were pitch black inside.

John, sweating slightly, looked down at his map.

"Oh fuck," he whispered, looking up at his exits and then down at the map several times.

The crawl space was marked with a star, the hole in the wall with a skull.

John Cena was very claustrophobic.

"Fuck!" he whispered again, looking around the room for another exit. There _had_ to be another way out...He absolutely could _not_ force himself to squeeze into the little crawl space, leading to God-knows-where.

'For all I know, it might lead to a dead-end,' he thought with a shudder, imagining himself trapped in the small space. 'Maybe this is some kind of trick...' He looked at the map, which didn't show anything beyond the room he was in. He even turned the map over, looking on the back. Interestingly enough, it read _Second Floor—Simple; First Floor—Mechanics; Basements 1 and 2—Magic. _

Of course, none of this meant anything to Cena, at least, not in the frightened state that he was in now, and he threw down the paper in frustration.

"I'll...I'll just go back, then," he said with a nervous laugh, walking quickly over to the door he had entered.

Of course it was locked.

"Dammit!" he growled, kicking the door once. Now he _had_ to pick a way out.

'Alright, this is just a stupid fun house,' he began to reason, trying to calm himself down. 'The worst that could happen would be that I choose the skull path, and I get scared, and then it'll be all over.' Cena nodded even as he thought this, but something in his gut was telling him that he was wrong. He thought back to whatever-it-was that was in the first room, behind one of the skull-doors. What had _that_ been all about?

The young wrestler began pacing, utterly unsure of what he should do. He considered both options, and they both seemed pretty awful. Would he rather risk going through the crawl space, or some unknown possible terror at the end of the other path?

Would it even matter?

"Alright, you win, I'm scared," he said aloud, looking around the room, wondering if the person who invited him here was watching or listening some how. "I give...You got me!" After a few minutes of silence, he figured that he wasn't going to get an answer. He'd have to make a choice.

Taking a deep breath, John Cena lowered his head and walked right into the gaping hole in the wall, entering a tunnel of some sort. After a few steps, he took another breath, slowing his steps. He was still alive...nothing had eaten him as of yet...

A few steps later, and he was sure that he had made the right choice. While it was still quite dark, he could literally see light at the end of the tunnel. He damn near ran to it, sighing with relief when he found a single door as he entered the room.

"Ha, I knew it!" he said with a smile, glad to finally be getting out of this damn "Horror and Fun House."

Cena walked through the door, but instead of ending up outside, he realized that he had walked into yet another room...and this one didn't have any exits at all. The door behind him shut and locked, startling him as he turned towards it, pulling on the handle desperately.

"No, no, let me out!" he cried, trying to force it open. A low, grinding sound entered his ears, and he put his back against the door, looking around the room, expecting to see some horror walking towards him.

That's not what he saw, however. What he saw was much, much worse.

The walls of the room were slowly and inexorably coming together, and the ceiling was getting lower by the second.

The entire room was shrinking.

"God," he choked out, turning to pull on the door again when he realized with a shock that the door was _gone_, and had been replaced with another moving wall.

"No, no, this can't be happening!" he yelled as he pressed desperately against the wall pushing him forwards. The room, which had been a square when he had entered, now resembled a diamond, and was closing in on him at an alarming rate.

John could feel the sweat pouring down his back as his heart beat hard in his chest. His breath was coming out in short bursts as the walls were literally closing in on him. With a cry, he began to pound against them with his fist, calling for help until he felt as though he could breathe anymore. He felt the top of the ceiling against his head suddenly, and it was that sensation that caused the sweet darkness of unconsciousness to take him as he fainted, overcome with horror.

* * *

_Poor Cena..._

_Review?_


	7. Necrophobia, Phagophobia, Seplophobia

_Hello all, I'm back! Ah...and I have a bit of a confession, and apology to make. So, I had planned on having this story posted in it's entirety before/on Halloween. But, alas, life interfered (not only in the form of school work this time, but in actual job-work...bah), so I didn't have a chance to polish the chapters the way I like to before posting them (and also, a chapter hadn't been written yet...it still isn't, but it's the last one, so we're cool, lol). So...I'm sorry it wasn't up by Halloween. It became a bit bigger than I had originally planned...Forgive me? (puppy dog eyes)_

_All that aside...here's the next chapter! (laughs) There's a certain pattern to these things that I hope ya'll are noticing...But I sure you are. :) Anyway, this chapter was HEAVILY inspired by my favorite band of all time, **Lordi**. They're amazing, if you like hard rock, and they recently made a motion picture over in Finland (that we're they're from) called Dark Floors. There was one scene that made me actually get a little scared, and it's been a while since that has happened, so I decided to do it to one of the guys. It may seem silly at first...but think about it for a bit..._

_Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! Thanks for the reads/reviews and such!_

* * *

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Triple H's voice could be heard echoing through the tunnel he was falling down, bouncing off the sides and around him, until he at last landed on the ground.

The floor opening up under him as he sat had startled him enough, but the length of his fall was what really made him scream as he realized how far he was falling and wondered what was at the bottom. Secretly, he had a slight fear of heights—hell, he rarely ever even jumped off the top rope in the damn _ring_—but his fears were assuaged when his landing ended in a soft bump on what appeared to be a large cushion of some sort.

He sat bolt upright, blinking in surprise, when a sudden thump on his head made him wince. Hunter rubbed his head and saw the jack-in-the-box as it more or less landed in his lap.

"Piece of shit," he grumbled, tossing it away. He looked up and surveyed the room he was in. It was well lit, with white walls and lights, and two doors, one at either end. For a moment, Hunter was confused—he had assumed that the "fun house experience" would be over at the end of the fall down the chute. Apparently, there was more to it than a simple fall. Vaguely he remembered the message they had been given at the beginning...something about facing their fears...

Maybe there was more to this "Horror and Fun House" than he had originally thought?

Triple H laughed to himself. 'Yeah, right. Bitch doesn't know what I fear...Hell, _I_ don't even know what I fear. Actually, I'm the King of Kings...I don't fear anything!' Feeling much more put-together, Hunter stood up and dusted himself off.

"Just try and scare me!" he said aloud, looking between the two doors. "C'mon, I dare you!" On one side of the room, the sign above the door said _First Floor_. Above the other door, were the words _Basement 2_.

'I guess up is where I want to go,' the Game thought to himself, walking towards the door that apparently led to the first floor. 'I mean, that's where the entrance was, right?'

He walked up to the door confidently, and grabbed the handle. He was pretty sure that whatever was behind it couldn't be all that scary, and after all, it was just a fun house, right? What was the worst that could happen?

Triple H threw open the door, and the light from the room he was in shone into the next, illuminating a scene that made his mind, unwillingly, go back several years.

_**Paul, age 6**_

_He was downstairs, well past his bedtime. He had sneaked into the kitchen for a late-night snack, tiptoeing around the furniture, at last reaching the glorious refrigerator and the ice cream inside. He finished off as much as he could as quickly as he could, and began to make his way back up the stairs, when light from the TV screen caught his attention. _

_His big sister, Lynn, apparently thought it was a good idea to sneak downstairs too, because there she was, sitting on the couch, watching television at 11:00pm._

_She hadn't noticed her little brother until he was right at her side, and when she at last did see him, she nearly jumped off her chair._

_"Don't scare me like that!" she whispered, angrily, pulling her little brother up on the sofa with her. "Are you trying to make me scream and wake up mom and dad?!"_

_"What are you watching?" Paul asked innocently, eyes fixed on the screen. There was a woman and a man on the screen, and they were both in a completely dark room. They were huddled together, both of them clutching a single, fading flashlight._

_Lynn smiled down at her younger sibling. "It's a zombie movie," she whispered, smiling her big-kid smile. "It's a horror movie. Lots of blood and gore."_

_"Zombie?"_

_"Yeah...Dead people who move, and walk, and eat you alive!"_

_Paul nodded, eyes still fixed on the screen. The man and the woman—he never did learn their names—had stopped walking, and stood looking at a wall in front of them._

_"We have to go back!" the woman said, eyes wide and bright in the darkness._

_The man shook his head. "No, we can't go back..." He put his hand against the wall, as though that would help, and the turned around, defeated. "I guess if we take the elevator...we...can..." His voice trailed off as his eyes widened suddenly. _

_"Were those always there?" he whispered, pointing to the floor. The woman turned around and screamed._

_There, all along the walls and floor of the hallway they were in, were rotten corpses, hundreds of them, each one lying in a position as though it had been crawling._

_Paul felt a shiver go down his spine as the scene seemed to expand. The entire building was full of corpses, each one frozen, reaching for the man and the woman, both of whom had fallen silent with terror._

_"H-How do we get out of here?" the man wondered aloud, not daring to move anything but his eyes. The woman screamed again, startling the man. "What?!" he yelled, turning to her quickly._

_"They...they m-m-moved," she shuddered, eyes somehow growing even wider. "The bodies...they moved! They were just moving!"_

_The man's eyes narrowed, and he took a careful step forwards, shining his light into the face of the nearest corpse. His nose wrinkled as the smell of decaying flesh filled his nostrils, and he felt a wave of nausea as he noticed the rotting flesh barely clinging to the semi-visible bones. _

_"I don't think—" he began to say, when suddenly, the corpse reached up and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him down to his level. The man screamed, the woman screamed, both were frozen with terror._

_Lynn and Paul were frozen as well, young eyes wide, as they watched the zombie sink it's teeth into the man's neck, drawing even more screams from him until they morphed into a sickening gurgling sound. He thrashed around for a few moments...until another corpse wrenched his head back so far and so hard that his spine cracked, and a third reached into his torso and began to pull out his entrails._

_The poor woman, who had not stopped shrieking, became even more hysterical as the other bodies began to walk and shuffle and crawl towards her. Her fate was sealed, and she knew it. The man was nothing more than a random collection of limbs, organs and thick blood on the floor by now, and the image on the screen began to darken as the Dead surrounded the woman..._

_Suddenly, Lynn and Paul felt a hand on their shoulders. Both children screamed, Lynn turning around quickly to face whatever was behind her and Paul jumping into Lynn's arms, eyes shut tight against the zombies he knew were coming to tear him to piece and eat his flesh._

_"What are you two doing up?" their mother asked sternly, gazing at the two terrified children. "And why are you watching that?!" Her question was directed at the oldest, who was now looking away sheepishly. But then her attention turned to Paul, who was sobbing softly. She took the little boy into her arms, declaring that he'd never watch another scary movie again, and took him upstairs, promising to have a long talk with Lynn later._

_It was his first—and last—horror movie._

Hunter stared into the room, eyes wide with disbelief. The scene before his eyes now was _exactly_ the same as that scene from the movie so long ago. There was the darkened hallway, the bodies lining the walls and floor...even the stench of rotting flesh was as he had imagined it had been for the victims in the movie. The only difference was that there was a door at the end, but otherwise, everything else was the same.

But how was that possible?

"No fucking way," Triple H whispered, backing away from the door and letting it shut slowly on it's own. "No fucking way!" He looked around the room, heart pounding, tripping over the cushion he had landed on. Things didn't make any sense. How could whoever was running this place have known about something that happened to him when he was a little kid? How could she have the details just right?

"Who the hell are you?!" he yelled, hoping for some response. "How are you doing this?!" Quickly, he walked towards the other door, opening it slowly and cautiously. Behind it was a steep ramp, leading down into some darkness. He didn't even want to know where it led, he just wanted to get the hell out of this place as soon as possible.

'But wait, going down to the basement won't get me out of here,' he thought as he stared into the darkness. 'Fuck, the only way out is...past those bodies...' A deep shudder passed through him, but he forced himself to be calm, and breathe deeply.

'C'mon, Paul,' he told himself as he once again opened the door that led to the hallway full of bodies. 'You can do this...just get by them, and then to the door, and you're home free.' He took a few minutes to mentally prepare himself, unable to decide whether to sprint past the bodies, or tiptoe by them.

The last thing he wanted was to wake them up.

"What the hell are you thinking?" he asked himself aloud, suddenly. "You can't wake up a dead person. That was a fucking movie, and a cheesy one at that. Now, go!" With a deep breath, he plunged into the room, sprinting down the dark hallway, eyes focused on the other door the entire time, although the corpses were always in the corner of his vision, and they made him run much, much faster.

When Hunter at last reached the door, he slammed into it with all his force, grabbing the handle desperately, twisting, turning, pushing, pulling, pounding...

It was locked.

The door was locked.

The keyhole stared back at him mockingly.

"No!" he yelled, beating on the door with his fists. "Let me out! I got past the bodies! Let me out! Open the door!" He kept banging on the door until a sound from behind him reached his ears. It was a soft sound, usually something to be ignored, but it made his blood run cold.

Hunter turned his head slowly, brown eyes wide with terror.

The other door was steadily closing.

"No!" he screamed, immediately taking off towards his only exit. There was no way in _hell_ he was going to be stuck in a hallway with a bunch of corpses lying around--

"Ow!" Hunter gasped as he fell suddenly, hitting the ground hard, his ankle apparently caught on something. He turned to untangle himself from what he assumed to be a cord, however, instead, he found himself staring into a pair of hollow eyes, and a rotting, leering smile.

"Shit!" Triple H screamed, trying to scuttle away from the thing grasping his leg, realizing that all of the corpse were now moving, slowly coming to terrible life.

Hunter, empowered by fresh horror, managed to pry his ankle loose as he began running for the door again. But now he could feel hands covered in dead flesh brushing against his arms, trying to latch onto him, trying to drag him back into the ever-darkening hallway as the door continued to close. He knew vaguely that if he didn't make it out before that door shut, he was as good as dead.

But Triple H was running as quickly as he could, feeling sicker every time his foot accidentally crushed the limb of an awakening corpse, eyes widening as the very walls seemed to teem with undead life.

Another scream tore from his throat when he felt a particularly strong hand grasp his hair, pulling him back, halting his movements for a moment.

And that was all that was needed, a moment, because in that moment, dozens of hands were on him, and Hunter was screaming and thrashing around, trying to get free.

"No, this can't be real!" he said over and over again as he was being pulled back into the darkness, fighting fiercely. "This can't be real!" Suddenly, his left arm was free, and Hunter took the opportunity to grab onto something—anything--in front of him, using it to propel himself forwards.

For a moment, hope flared in his heart. He was going to make it out.

But that hope was quickly crushed as the light in the hallway became ever-more dim, and Hunter realized, tears filling his eyes even as he ran, that he wasn't going to make it to the door before it closed, sealing him inside with the ravenous Dead.

* * *

_Poor Hunter...that's just not right...Dead bodies are bad enough where they're not moving/walking/after you...  
_

_'Taker's next. (Wicked grin)_

_Review?_


	8. Thanatophobia, Mnemophobia, Pyrophobia

_Hello all. I'm back. XD As promised, we are now with 'Taker...although I wasn't entirely truthful at the end of the last chapter. We have 'Taker in this chapter, but he's not alone..._

_I feel kinda back for torturing him like this...both of them...but alas, it had to be done. And besides, it was kinda fun. (wicked laughter)_

_Hope you all enjoy! Thanks for all the reads and reviews! _

* * *

The Undertaker landed hard on the ground, lying still for a minute and then groaning as he sat up slowly. "What the hell was  
_that_ all about?" he wondered aloud, stretching to get a kink out of his hip. He started to scan the room, but gave up because of the depth of the darkness. For some reason, his eyes weren't adjusting...

'Well, this is fun,' he thought with a sigh. If whoever invited him here thought that the dark was going to scare him, this person obviously had no idea who she was dealing with.

As if on cue, he heard a hard thump behind him. 'Taker followed the source of the sound and saw the jack-in-the-box lying on the floor, a little square of darkness. He picked it up, surprised at how heavy it felt, because he was sure that it hadn't weighed that much before. His green eyes examined it for a moment before he tossed it away.

"Stupid toy," he mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Stupid fun house."

Sighing again, Mark reached out in the darkness and put his hand along the wall, hoping to find his way to the nearest door. He looked up, wondering where the hell he had fallen from, but had no idea how high up the ceiling was. Carefully, he walked in the darkness for what he guessed to be half an hour before he realized something that made him pause.

Someone was coming towards him.

'Taker stood perfectly still, and heard the approach of heavy footsteps in his direction. He squinted, trying to see whoever it was. His mind—or so he assumed—began to play tricks on him, because he could have sworn that he heard faint screams from above him.

Seeing nothing, and unable to determine the validity of the screams, however, he turned back towards the approaching footsteps and was blinded by a sharp white light.

"The fuck?!" he winced, taking a step back from whoever the hell was standing in front of him.

"It's me," the figure said, raising the light to his face. "And I'm glad that you're you."

"Glen? Where did you get a flashlight from?"

The Big Red Machine laughed. "It was in the box." He smiled proudly. "I'm kind of figuring out how whoever designed this place thinks."

"Good," 'Taker said with a roll of his eyes. "So how do we get out of here? Because I've been wandering around here for a while with nothin'."

Glen scratched his chin. "I think the only way out is to face our greatest fear, as odd as that sounds."

"How do you know this?" Mark asked, slightly skeptical.

"Because of the warning at the beginning." Kane's smile vanished suddenly. "And because I saw Adam getting buried alive," he said solemnly.

'Taker's green eyes widened. "What? For real?"

"For real, Mark." Glen nodded to himself. "As we fell, I managed to grab a hold of the side of the chute I was sliding down, and must have ended where I wasn't supposed to be. I...I only managed to poke my head out a little, but I saw Adam fall into a glass coffin, and right before I began my decent again, a steady stream of dirt began to fall from the ceiling... If there was a test, he failed it, and the punishment was what he feared most." He shook his head. "Or else there _is_ no test, and we're just dealing with a psycho who wants to hear out screams before we die."

The Undertaker shook his head. "Die..." he repeated, feeling his fists clenching at his sides. "You're kidding me, right? This is just some stupid fun house!"

"I thought so too at first but...something about this place is _too_ real for my liking. Either the person who designed this is a genius and has fulfilled her promise to scare us shitless, or is a mass murderer conducting an experiment. But can't you feel it? Something's seriously wrong here."

"I don't feel a thing," 'Taker answered, still not fully buying it. "But say you're right...then we're the guinea pigs for this experiment?"

"Yes," Kane said with a nod. "I mean, how many people will want to come to a Haunted House on Halloween? Especially when associated with us? She'll be able to kill hundreds of people before any bodies are found..."

There was a long silence between the two brothers.

"So...Adam is probably dead by now," 'Taker said softly.

"Yeah. Maybe some of the others too."

"And we're probably next."

"Most likely."

"Then _why_ are we being so calm again?"

Glen's smile returned. "Well, bro, I'm sure that I can find a way out of here. Plus, if we stick together, we'll be able to help one another figure out the answer to the puzzle." He flashed his light around the room. "And I have this, which I'm pretty sure no one else has."

"When we get out of here, we'll have to kill this psycho," Mark said with a nervous laugh. He wasn't as confident in Glen's ability as Glen was. And as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he _was_ a bit apprehensive at the thought of being killed.

'But who wouldn't be?' he asked himself.

"Let's find a way out first," Kane said quietly. "Which way did you come from?"

'Taker took the flashlight and pointed in the direction he had walked. "Over there."

"Alright, and I came from the opposite direction...Which means that my 'fear' is probably in the direction I came from, and yours is back there."

"So the question is, which one do we pick?" The Deadman scratched his chin with his free hand. "I'm not even sure I know what my greatest fear is...Actually, I may not have one."

Kane rolled his eyes. "That's the whole point of this, Bro. Everyone has something they fear...more than anything else..." His eyes dimmed for a moment, and 'Taker saw a flash of worry in them.

"Do you know what you fear?" he asked his younger brother gently, more gently than he had intended.

"I do...I think..." Glen shook himself. "I think we should go to mine. With yours being an unknown, we may be walking into something that's more than we can handle..."

'Taker nodded. "Let's go then," he said solemnly, stepping in front of Kane and letting the flashlight guide their path. The two brothers walked cautiously, minds very much on what lay ahead.

After several silent minutes, Kane tapped the Undertaker on the shoulder.

"This is where I first fell," he whispered, pointing to the empty box on the ground. "My test, or whatever, should be a little further up, I guess."

"Alright," Mark said softly, trying to swallow his heart. He had no idea what Glen's "phobia" was, but he could make some guesses, and quite frankly, they all scared him too.

The brothers' pace became ever more slow and cautious as they walked, beads of sweat forming on their brows. Both had a sense of impending doom, and with each step, they felt that doom become more and more of a reality. Kane's nerves were particularly shot as he walked, and he soon found himself fighting the urge to reach out and hold his brother's hand in the darkness.

"Mark," he whispered, licking his now-dry lips.

"Yeah?"

"I..." He sighed. How the hell do you say "I'm afraid" without sounding like a wimp? "Bro I..." The Big Red Machine shivered. "What I fear most is--" He saw something glimmer in the darkness suddenly as light reflected off off it, slightly off the path, and went towards it. There seemed to be a huge hole in the wall, or something...

"Mark, I think I found--"

His sentence was cut short by the loud sound of metal creaking, by the sound of chains pulling against some heavy object. The brothers looked around frantically, 'Taker trying to focus the flashlight on the source of the sound, when a loud crash and a thud knocked them both off their feet.

"What the hell happened?" Kane wondered, standing up. A soft glow from above illuminated things, and he found himself looking at his brother from between iron bars. He was trapped. Off the path had been a cage of some sort, cut right into the wall, it seemed.

"Fuck!" 'Taker growled, pulling on the bars a little, realizing quickly that he couldn't break them. Something sticky coated the metal as well. "Why were we separated?!"

"I don't know..." Glen said softly, surveying his prison. He touched the glimmering object, and found it to be a chain, suspended from the ceiling. He didn't pull it. As he walked, he found himself slipping on something...something that smelled strange. He sniffed. "And what's that smell?"

The Undertaker shook his head. "Smells like..." he closed his eyes. "I don't know...Some kind of...gasoline?"

His eyes opened wide when full realization hit, and he saw Kane shrink away from the bars as though they were already aflame. He looked down, noticing the several spots on the floor was covered with fuel. Even the walls were smeared with it.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Glen was whispering, looking desperately for a way out. If there was even the smallest spark, the entire cell would be engulfed in flames in an instant...

"No, Glen, we're okay, it's okay" 'Taker was saying, although his heart was pounding. "As long as there's no way to make a fire..." He looked around the room, seeing nothing, and then up.

And his heart sank.

The light in the room was coming from torches. Old torches that would soon be dripping flaming pitch into the cage.

"Fuck," he whispered, looking quickly at his brother, who was now frozen with fear, having noticed the torches as well. "Glen..." He walked up to the bars, reaching out to his sibling. "I'll get you out of here," he swore, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He wondered how much time he had before the inevitable happened and some of that pitch lit up the cage like a bonfire.

"Mark...hurry up! Find water, or something!" Kane said frantically, the terror evident in his voice. "Please!"

"Where the hell would I find water in this place?!" 'Taker yelled, although more at himself than Kane.

"Well then find a key, or a saw, or something! Hurry!"

'Taker looked around the hallway, around the cage, trying to figure out a way to get Glen out...

"What if I pulled the chain?" Kane mused aloud suddenly, voice wavering with fear. "Do you think it would open the cage...or would it make the torches fall? Or something worse?"

Mark shook his head. "I don't know...but don't risk it!"

"Why not?" Glen said, voice lowering, eyes dulling. "I'm good as dead anyway...I may as well try it..." He reached up and wrapped his hand around the chain, preparing for the worst.

"No Glen, let me think first!" 'Taker begged, as his younger brother pulled the chain. There was a long silence, and he tried to figure out what was going on. He didn't have much time to think, however, as the very floor he was standing on began to tilt. At first it was imperceptible, but soon, he felt himself fighting against the incline.

The chain had been connected to a mechanism that made the floor tilt and become a veritable ramp leading into oblivion.

Instinctively, 'Taker grabbed the bars, but his hands slipped off because of the gasoline, and he fell on his back, beginning a slow but inevitable slide into some even greater darkness.

"Glen!" he cried out, feeling tears in his eyes as he turned to his brother.

'No! I have to help him...' He clawed at the ground, trying to stop his decent, and reached out for his younger brother, who had momentarily overcome his fear of the fuel-drenched bars and was reaching out to him. But he was too far away...

Kane was screaming. "Mark! No!"

"Glen!"

It was the last word 'Taker was able to scream before the floor titled completely, and he fell into a darkness deeper than any he had known before, his little brother's cries ringing in his ears.

* * *

_Poor 'Taker, descending to the lower depths of Hell...or something very much like Hell. His torment has only begun..._

_And poor Kane! :(_

_Review?_


	9. Autophobia,Virginitiphobia,Amnesiphobia

_And now...we come to 'Taker's torment. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out what he feared, but then it hit me out of nowhere like a ton of bricks. (laugh) Seriously, I was sitting in class, and it was like, BAM, and then I rushed to my room to write it when the class was over. I actually wrote this chapter before any of the other phobias...So, yeah...when it hits, it hits hard, lol._

_Hope it's not too out there for you all...But I think you'll like it. I put myself in 'Taker's shoes, and thought, 'Wow, that really would be scary! And disheartening. And awful.' So, I kept it. XD _

_Thanks for all the reads/reviews/favs/alerts and whatever else you're allowed to do! Onto the story!_

* * *

The Undertaker tumbled forever, it seemed, when, finally, he landed hard on a floor far below where he knew his brother was. He was on his feet in a second, though, looking up at what seemed to be a perfectly normal ceiling.

"Glen!" he called back up, hearing no response, hearing nothing at all. He had no idea where the damn slanting floor was, because the only thing he could see now was a flat surface. "Glen!" Fiercely, he wiped away the tears that threatened to fall. He _refused_ to believe that Glen had been burned again... It was just too cruel.

He looked around for the way up and saw none. In fact, he couldn't see anything in this darkness...

And now Mark's blood ran cold as he realized that he was alone, in the dark, and _his_ time was soon coming.

As he clutched the flashlight to his chest, his mind began to fill with images of all the possible horrors in store for him. He wondered vaguely how the others had died, or if they had found one another...or, better yet, if they found a way out.

'Alright, think,' he ordered himself, breathing deeply. 'There's still time to save Glen and get the fuck out of here...' He shined the flashlight around the room, and saw that it was quite empty. It looked like the basement of the place... 'I just need to find the stairs...then I can get to the upper levels, and maybe out of this...place.'

Feeling slightly more confident, 'Taker began to walk slowly in the darkness, listening for any sounds besides his own footsteps and breathing. As he walked down the hallways, the amount of light seemed to grow, and after a while, he was able to turn off the flashlight and put it in his side pocket. He eventually came to a bend in the hallway, and stopped to think. He considered turning back, but where could he go but forwards? Cautiously, he turned the corner and, when nothing killed him, he continued a few hesitant steps forwards before freezing completely.

There was a large, black casket in the middle of the hallway, designed exactly in the way that he would to design them, complete with locks on the lid and all.

"Oh, _hell_ no," he whispered, backing away from it slowly and carefully. He didn't have any specific fears of being buried alive, or trapped in a coffin, but just the same, one look at the thing and there could be no doubt about what it was there for.

Or, rather, _who_ it was there for.

However, as 'Taker backed away, he soon felt himself hit something that was definitely not the wall, but sure as hell could have been as strong as it. He turned slowly, certain that what he hit was a _who_ and not a _what_, and prepared to defend himself.

At least, he _planned_ on defending himself, that is until he got a good look at the figure, who was as tall as he was. In fact, he had the same green eyes and pale skin. The only difference between him and the figure was the sideways smile.

He was looking at himself.

'Taker's jaw dropped as he stared at the mirror image come to life. But the funny thing was, it wasn't _quite_ him; it was his Lord of Darkness incarnation, standing not an inch away, solid, _existing_. But something about him was far more sinister than he had ever managed to look. His eyes, though the same shade of green, were without any of their light, and seemed, for lack of a better word, _dead_.

"How?" 'Taker whispered, eyes widening.

"Long time, no see Mark," his Lord of Darkness self said with a sneer, reaching out to run a hand through the messy strands of his hair. "You look good."

The Undertaker shook his head in disbelief. "How can you..._be_...?"

The Dark Lord shrugged, but his body barely moved. "The one who invited you here allowed me to return," he said carefully. "Although, I shouldn't say 'allow,' but rather, 'made possible.' She believes that a good 'Horror and Fun' House is 2 parts good mechanics and 1 part dark magic. Hell of a sorceress, that one."

"Magic?"

"Well, you and I wouldn't call it that, but that's the best word for it, I think." The creature smiled. "Kane sensed it eventually, and Shawn could actually sense it the whole time, to our surprise. And yet, _you_ didn't sense it because..."

The Undertaker's eyes widened even more. "Because you...were down here the whole time..." His throat went dry, and he could feel the beginnings of true fear coming over him. "You're actually real," he choked out, shaking his head as if to deny what he had just affirmed.

"As real as you," his other self answered.

'Taker closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, heart pounding hard in his chest. "What...what do you want with me?" he asked hesitantly.

"I've been waiting for you to come back to me," the Lord of Darkness said in a low, seductive voice, beginning to walk forwards. "I thought you were coming back when Vince buried you alive, but no, you managed to keep some control over yourself and not give in to the Darkness completely." A slow smile crossed his face. "I was so disappointed. But now, here we are, together again..."

"I got rid of you...I don't want you again," Mark said weakly, figuring that he'd probably pass out soon enough, and then it'd be over anyway. For every step his other self took forwards he took two backwards. If he couldn't have guessed the creature's intentions already, they were clear in the way he was leering at him.

"I'm not letting you go this time," the Dark Lord said, smiling. "I need to use your body again...I don't technically exist outside of this place." He nodded towards the casket. "You can just go to sleep in there and let me take care of things from now on. We can finish what we started so long ago..."

The Undertaker shoved his other self hard, away from him, with every intention of running for his life. He got about two steps before he felt his own strong grip on his arm, using his own momentum to slam him into the nearby wall. The breath was forced from his lungs as he felt his other self press his body hard against him.

"I was hoping you'd resist," the Lord of Darkness growled, smile never leaving.

'Taker felt his muscles burning, he was trying so hard to shove his other self away again, but it was like pushing against a stone wall. He brought his fist up to punch the Dark Lord, but the demon anticipated it, and grabbed both of 'Taker's wrists, pinning them behind his back. For a moment, all movement stopped.

"You know, since we shared a body before, I never had a chance to do this..." the Lord of Darkness mused as his hand went to the buckle of Mark's pants, unfastening it with ease before roughly groping him through the material. "But I always wanted to."

"No! Don't!" 'Taker gasped, feeling his other self's hands roaming his body, now sliding under his shirt, realizing what was happening. He tried again to push the Lord of Darkness away, but couldn't move him, and tears touched the corners of his eyes as a pair of hard satin lips came crashing down on his, wrists now pinned against the wall. The speed at which his other self was moving made him dizzy, and disoriented, and just plain terrified. He wrenched his head to the side, gasping for air.

"Stop struggling, or I'll tie you up," the Dark Lord threatened, green eyes flashing dangerously. "You think it's bad now? If I have to get out the chains, you'll wish you were never born."

'Taker stopped moving, head dropping. He knew that whenever he made a threat like _that_, he meant it, and every word. And, knowing himself well, he could already imagine the ways in which he could make himself wish that he was never born. Hell, he was already wishing that now.

The Lord of Darkness nodded with approval, seeing his prey cease his futile struggling. "Good," he said with a short laugh. "You're still smart, at least." He put his hands on Mark's hips, pulling their bodies together. "Now, just be still, and when I'm done, you can sleep in the casket, and there won't be anymore pain..." He slowly unbuttoned Mark's shirt and slid it down his muscular arms, smiling as he noticed the man shivering.

"Well isn't that precious?" he smirked, tracing his finger along the tattoo on 'Taker's stomach. "You're afraid of me."

"I'm not afraid of you," 'Taker whispered in response, and then, with no warning, kicked his other self right in the groin, taking off in a sprint as the Lord of Darkness cursed him.

The Undertaker ran down the hall, back the way he had come, past where he had landed, but couldn't find any way out. He could see now, with the fading flashlight he had turned on as he ran, that the room and hallways had the general design of a maze, and his steps eventually slowed until he was standing still. With a sinking feeling he realized that there were no doors, no windows, no stairs...no way out.

He was trapped down here with himself.

Dying suddenly didn't seem so bad compared to what was coming.

"Maaaaarrrrrk," he heard the Lord of Darkness call in an inappropriately kind, sing-song voice, obviously not very far away and coming closer by the second. "You can't hide from me...and when I find you..."

The unspoken threat hung heavily in the absolute silence. 'Taker, trembling, backed up against a wall and slid down it into a sitting position. He flicked off the light, not wanting to give away his position, trying to buy as much time as he could before the inevitable happened. He pulled his knees up to his chest and lowered his head, letting a few tears slip from his eyes, certain that more would follow when he was found. He thought about his wife and daughters. God, would they be safe? Would the realize that it wasn't him when his body came home with that monster inside? Would his Lord of Darkness self hurt them? And would he, Mark, be dead? Or would his soul be trapped inside, unable to stop his other self from...

"I can't hear you running anymore, Mark! What's wrong? Realize that you're in a maze yet? Or have you just accepted the fact that I can see you clearly in this darkness, and there's no point in running anyway? Your green eyes are so beautiful and bright when you're terrified, by the way."

'Taker closed his eyes and covered his ears with his hands. 'Alright, he sees me now,' he thought, feeling a fresh pulse of fear along with growing despair, heart pounding all the more. 'It'll be over quickly...Please God, let it end quickly.' He thought about how hard it had been to make this being, born from the darkness of his soul and a bad decision, at last release him when he wanted to be free. It had been battle of souls...and he had won. He had freed himself from the Lord of Darkness. He had exorcised that Demon.

Or so he thought. Now, all of that was for nothing, it seemed...and he was once again going to become a puppet to that bastard. Just when he was sure that he was truly free...

Tears of frustration fell from his tightly shut eyes as he heard hurried footsteps come to a halt directly in front of him. For a long time, nothing happened.

"Undertaker?!" a familiar voice said, and 'Taker opened his eyes wide with surprise.

"Hunter?!"

* * *

_Hunter? Hunter! XD  
_

_Review?_


	10. Agoraphobia

_Yay, another chapter! (laughs) And, hey, look, it's the next-to-last chapter. XD Yes, the poor guys' torment is, mercifully, almost at it's end. _

_Thanks to everyone who have read and reviewed and fav'd and alert'd this story. You all make me smile. :) I don't have too much to say this time...so, without any further preliminary...onto the story!_

* * *

Triple H nearly fell over himself hugging the Undertaker as he stood, gripping the larger man around the waist. "Oh, thank God...I'm so glad to see another living person!" he panted, obviously having been running. "I thought I was going to die! They were chasing me, and were going to _eat_ me..."

The Undertaker shook his head, trying to make sense of everything as he turned on his flashlight. "Wait, slow down, what happened to you?" he asked, in an attempt to quiet the smaller man, who only reluctantly released him after several moments.

"I...After we fell...I was in some room and there were...corpses everywhere...zombies..."

"Zombies?"

"Yes!" Hunter said defensively. "There were fucking _dead_ _people_ everywhere...walking around... I just ran away, but they were always right behind me..." He looked over his shoulder fearfully for a moment, and 'Taker noticed just how wide his eyes were. "I think I lost them for now...I just made it out of that hallway alive...I've never been more scared in my whole life..." His breathing became labored again before it started to return to normal. Running into a familiar face had helped him immensely. As he began to calm somewhat, he took in Mark's state. The man looked at his wits end...

"So, what hell happened?" Hunter asked after a moment. "And...where's your shirt?"

Mark shuddered. "I'm down here with...myself...in another body..." He wrapped his arms around himself feeling suddenly very cold. "He's going to fuck me to death and then take my body for himself, I think."

"I...don't even know how that's possible, but that sounds awful..." Hunter whispered after a moment, shaking his head, looking around the room again. "God, where the hell _are_ we? What kind of place have we come to? It's like being in a nightmare..." His eyes welled with tears again, and he didn't care if they fell or not at this point. "I just want to wake up," he said hopelessly.

The two men stood in silence for a few moments.

"Do you know where Shawn is?" 'Taker asked softly, instantly regretting it because of the look that came into Hunter's face.

"No," the Game answered in a barely audible whisper. "God, I don't even want to imagine what happened to him... He didn't even want to come..." More tears fell from his eyes. "He's probably dead, Mark! It's all my fault that he's dead!"

"Well, if it's any comfort, he's not the only one who's dead," 'Taker said in a flat voice, although he felt a lump in his throat. "Glen saw Adam get buried alive and...and then Glen was trapped in a cage covered in gasoline."

Hunter's tear stained eyes widened. "My God," he whispered. "Everyone's probably dead then..." Tremors overtook him again and he leaned back against the wall. "And we're going to be dead soon too, aren't we?"

"If we're lucky," Mark answered, feeling Hunter's hopelessness and sadness rubbing off on him and increasing his own. "I don't know what to do...Glen thought that there would be a way out, but this place is just a damn maze...I haven't seen a single door or window!" He closed his eyes, trying to think.

Hunter kept looking around nervously, eyes darting as far as the meager light from Mark's flashlight shone, when something occurred to him suddenly. "Hey, where'd you get that?" he asked, pointing at the flashlight.

"From Glen," 'Taker said sadly, looking at the object in his hand. "He got it out of his--" The Deadman's eyes suddenly widened. "His box! Paul, where's your box?"

"What?"

"The black box...the jack-in-the-box we were given in the beginning! I think there was something inside that we could use...Glen had a flashlight, and mine..." Mark grit his teeth for a moment. "Mine is a fucking floor above us, and I can't get it. Maybe yours has something..."

Hunter shook his head. "My box is where I landed, and I ain't going back to get it. There are about a hundred dead bodies between it and us." He sighed. "And whose to say there was anything good in there? I..." He stopped speaking, suddenly, eyes widening. "Oh, fuck, Mark, there _was_ a door! It lead up to the first floor... But I tried to open it...it was locked...there was probably a key in the box!" Hunter shook his head in disbelief. "God, that was probably the only way out of this basement!" He punched the wall behind him in frustration. "Dammit, why didn't I think of that sooner?!"

'Taker sighed heavily. "We're fucked," he said listlessly, unable to believe his bad luck. "I probably had a damn handgun in mine, or something."

"Would that even kill you other self?"

"If not him, than me."

Another long silence. "Should we just give up then?" Triple H asked quietly, running a shaking hand through his blond hair. "I mean, it'll hurt less if we don't fight, right?"

'Taker sighed again. "I don't think so...at least, not for me."

"Well, I'm not too keen on getting torn limb from limb and being eaten alive, so I'm sticking with you," Hunter said with a nervous laugh.

"Sorry, Hunter, but your fear is yours," a cold voice said from somewhere in the darkness, causing 'Taker and Hunter to both freeze, causing goosebumps to rise on their flesh. "You can't share in Mark's torment...well, not unless you _really_ want to..."

"Is...that the other you?" Triple H whispered, feeling chills running down his spine at the sound. That was definitely _not_ Mark's voice. It didn't even sound human...

The Undertaker nodded stiffly. "Yeah...and he knows where we are." He swallowed hard. "Do you know where the voice is coming from? Do you hear any footsteps? I can't sense him at all because he's blocking my abilities..."

"I have no idea..." Hunter whispered, looking around quickly. "I don't see--" His voice died in his throat as he stared directly in front of him, expression identical to that of a deer in the headlights.

'Taker noticed this, and felt his own heart pounding again. "What?" he asked shakily, following Hunter's gaze with his eyes and flashlight.

The fading beam of light fell on his other self, on his sick smile. He was walking slowly down the hallway, obviously in no hurry, the chains in his hands barely skimming the floors. Behind him, the darkness seemed to be moving and shifting...shapes in the darkness...

"Druids," 'Taker whispered, feeling sweat drip from his forehead. He knew suddenly, with startling clarity, that he wasn't going to be so fortunate as to die any time in the near future, and it made his blood run cold again. He turned his head slowly to look at Hunter, who was frozen stiff with terror. "We have to run," he told the other man, turning his attention back to the advancing Lord of Darkness. "Now."

"I don't want to die," Triple H whispered, tears falling freely as his eyes widened with every step the Lord of Darkness took towards him. One look into the Dark Lord's dead eyes, and he _knew_ that death was near. If Death had a face...

'Taker grabbed Hunter's arm and began to run, dragging the him down another corridor of the endless maze. He ran straight forwards, and when he came upon the end of the hall, he made only one turn, running straight ahead, not wanting to risk running into his other self. He ran until Hunter's ragged breaths and his own were the only things he could hear, and then he stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He looked up in front of him.

Another wall.

"Dead end?!" he yelled, touching the wall in disbelief. "Shit!" He began to pound on it with his fists for a few moments, even kicking it, his frustration quickly morphing into hopeless horror. "No, no, no!"

"There's no way out," Hunter whispered between gasps, falling to his hands and knees before sitting back against the wall. "We're really going to die..." He let his head drop into his hands. "I wish we hadn't come here...I'm so scared..."

'Taker gave up beating on the wall and looked over at Hunter, realizing that the man was crying softly. "Paul..." he started to say, when he heard footsteps approaching.

'How the hell did he find us so quickly!?' he thought, backing fully against the wall near Hunter, his fingers tangling in his own dark hair as he wracked his brain for a way out.

"Alright Mark, no more playing tag," the Lord of Darkness called from somewhere in the shadows. "While it was fun, I'm ready to play a different game." The evil being chuckled. "Now, come to me willingly, and I promise to only make you wish that you were dead, rather than having never been born. That's a fair trade, right? And if you please me, I promise to give your little girls a quick, painless death when I see them..."

Now the Undertaker's tears flowed freely as he felt himself being choked by fear; fear for his own life, and fear for those he loved, his eyes only barely able to make out the figures in the shadows. The Druids were coming steadily forwards, no doubt to drag him kicking and screaming into the darkness.

"Leave Helmsley to his zombies," the Dark Lord laughed, sensing victory. "They'll be here in a few seconds anyway, and you can't fight them all off. Besides, they're very hungry for him. Then we'll get see if he thinks fucking a corpse is funny now." Hunter sobbed audibly, putting his hands over his ears, trembling. "But I'm more hungry for _you_, Mark."

'Taker shook his head, feeling the tenuous control he had over his emotions slipping. Just _thinking_ about what his other self had planned made him feel ready to faint dead away with fear. In fact, he was sure that his grip on consciousness was slipping as he watched the figure approach, blurred by his tears.

"I'm not a puppet," he whispered as he sank slowly to his knees, back still against the wall, the Lord of Darkness coming to stand directly in front of him. "I'm not..." Thoughts, images and dark memories from the past began to come to the forefront of his mind and he shook his head again. "No, I'm human..."

With a smile, the evil being gently took the dying flashlight out of Mark's hand and smashed it against the wall, plunging them all into absolute darkness. A soft, metallic sound reached their ears, and the Lord of Darkness chuckled.

"And that would be the key to Kane's cell," he said softly, voice fading into the heavy silence as Mark and Paul awaited their end.

Hunter screamed first, as he felt several cold, clammy hands gripping his arms and long hair, dragging him back the way he had come. He struggled fiercely, but knew in his heart it was useless to fight against the Dead, and that he was only prolonging the inevitable. His muscles tensed, anticipating the searing pain of being torn off, or the even worst agony of being bitten into. Just as in the hallway, they were all around him, dragging, pulling and crushing, the smell of rotting flesh making him gag even as he shrieked.

Somehow, amidst Hunter's fading screams, 'Taker could hear the soft fabric of the Druids as they surrounded him, brushing against his sides. There were so many of them...everywhere he looked, he could see the vague outlines of darkness within darkness.

"Take him to my domain," the Lord of Darkness ordered. "When I'm done with him, just lock him in the coffin." He touched his prey's face gently. "Fear not, Mark. Don't be scared, because there's no one here who can help you now."

As the Druids surged in and began to drag him away, 'Taker fought like a demon, screaming as he tried to grab hold to something, _anything_, that could stop them from taking him away, even though he knew better than anyone that struggling was useless. Mark's heart only sank all the more as the Lord of Darkness' laughter rang out over his and Hunter's screams.

He suddenly felt himself thrust through an open door—a portal of some sort, he vaguely assumed, and landed hard on his face. His eyes opened slowly, and he saw a pair of boots in front of him. Breathing heavily, he looked up slowly, not daring to move, and his eyes widened as he saw just who it was who was standing in front of him, looking down at him with curious eyes.

"S-S-Shawn?"

* * *

_O.O Shawn???_

_Review?_


	11. Isolophobia,Lygophobia Exit Darkness

_Hey everyone! I'm so very, very sorry that this last chapter took so long in getting put up--I got sick last Wednesday, and I was pretty much in bed until Sunday. :( I felt terrible keeping you all in suspense for, like, two weeks, and I promise I'll make it up to you...soon. (wink) _

_Of course, being ill, my brain ran wild a little...as always... Like I said, I'll make it up to you all. XD_

_All that aside, here is the final chapter of Fear Itself. Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/fav'd/alert'd etc. this story. I had a blast writing it, and I'm glad some other people liked it too. (laughs) You ladies and gents make me smile every time._

_So, without any further preliminary...Onto the story! All is revealed!_

* * *

Mark's green eyes were set to fall out of his head as he stared up at Shawn Michaels, who was standing in front of him, casually eating cotton candy, of all the absurd things. He moved slowly into a sitting position, realizing that he was actually _outside_ now, and that no one else was around. No Druids. No Lord of Darkness. No one except Shawn Michaels.

"Shawn?" he repeated, rubbing his eyes with hands that were more than a little shaky. "What are you doing here? Hell, what am _I_ doing here?" He paused, thinking for a moment. "Did...did I die?" he asked with wide eyes, not sure if he should feel happy that his end was sudden and painless, or upset that his other self had killed him, and was no doubt running around in his body wreaking havoc.

"Die?" Shawn asked, extending his hand to help the bigger man up, swallowing the last of his cotton candy. 'Taker took his hand, after looking at it warily for a few moments, and Shawn pulled him into a standing position, the smaller man's brow furrowing in confusion. "Where'd your shirt go?"

'Taker started to answer, but he was cut off when Hunter's voice suddenly reached their ears.

"Shawn!" he gasped, tackling the Heartbreak Kid to the ground, hugging him way too tightly, burying his face in Shawn's golden-brown hair. "I'm so glad I'm with you now...I'm so sorry I made you come here!" Hunter looked up, wiping at his eyes and noticed 'Taker standing there. "Did you die too?" he asked, looking between the two men. "Are we all dead right now?"

"That's what I want to know," 'Taker said, rubbing his hands along his arms. He didn't _feel _ like he was dead... Carefully, he looked around again. They were definitely outside...and there behind them stood that awful House. What the hell happened?

"Do you know what's going on, Shawn?" he asked, completely confused at this point. HBK nodded.

"Follow me," he said, standing up, which wasn't easy to do with Triple H still clinging to him. "I think it'd be easier if I just showed you guys what's up." Keeping a slow pace, he led the two men to another building, oddly enough labeled "Recovery."

* * *

"Do you think he's an angel, or something?" Hunter whispered to 'Taker as they walked, and he rolled his eyes.

"I don't think we're dead...Although this _is_ strange..."

The trio entered the building together, and as they stepped inside, the first person Mark noticed was Glen, sitting silently on a cot of some sort, and not single burn mark on him.

"Glen?" he whispered, walking over to his younger brother, who stood as soon as he heard 'Taker's voice. They embraced warmly, and Mark felt himself blinking back tears. "What the fuck is going on? I thought you were dead..."

"So did I," Glen answered, voice still shaky. "But...just when I saw the fire start, some door behind me opened, and I was suddenly outside the Fun House." He sighed, hugging his older brother even more tightly before taking a step back. "I'm so glad you made it out okay. Everyone else seems to be okay too."

"Everyone else?" 'Taker followed Kane's gaze, and saw Cena, Adam and Randy lying on cots, very much alive, but obviously trying to get over whatever they had experienced, judging by the paleness of their faces and uncharacteristic silence. Rey was sitting down on a cot like Glen had been, shaken, but more or less okay. "They're all alive?"

Shawn Michaels smiled from the chair he had taken, Hunter still on his arm. "Yeah. The way the place is designed...You get the crap scared out of you, and when it becomes too much, you're ejected from the building." He scratched his head. "I guess she told us this in the letter, but I sure didn't think of it while I was in there."

"_I_ thought she was a psychopathic murderer," Glen muttered. Triple H nodded in approval.

"Yeah...However she set this up...it was pretty fucked up."

"Tell me about it," Shawn said with a shake of his head. "But at least no one died, right?"

"But...how come you're okay?" 'Taker asked suddenly, giving Shawn a long look. "You look...fine. Like nothing happened. The rest of us here will probably need therapy for a at least few weeks, or so."

Glen snickered. "Bro, you've _always_ needed therapy," he laughed, and Triple H high-fived him. The Undertaker shot them both dirty looks before turning back to Shawn.

"Well?"

HBK shrugged. "I...I think I passed my 'test', or something," he said, scratching his chin. "When I walked through the door, she was there--"

"She?" Triple H interrupted, curious now as well. The other guys were all watching too.

"The owner. Or manager. Whatever. Anyway, she was out there, and she was impressed with how quickly I completed my test, and she gave me a tour of the rest of the Carnival. She's really a nice—Oh! I almost forgot!" Shawn reached into his pocket. "She also told me to give you guys these, when everyone had finished." He passed out what looked like letters, each addressed to one man. Randy tore his open, reading it quickly, and groaned, not even bothering to sit up. Cena read a few lines and then let his fall to the ground, sighing as he closed his eyes.

"I'm never going outside of my house again," he muttered as he turned over on the cot and buried his face in the pillow. "Never, ever, again. I knew I should have chosen the crawl space."

Rey didn't even bother to open his envelope, instead choosing to place it in his pocket for later consideration—when his hands _weren't_ shaking on and off like he was suffering hypothermia. Adam looked over his once before tearing it in half and rising angrily from the bed he had been lying on.

"Evil bitch," he hissed before storming out of the room, apparently fully recovered. The other guys couldn't help but smile as they watched him go.

Glen read his letter quickly, and sighed. "I figured as much," he said, shaking his head. "Damn, but she got us good."

Hunter read his and then looked at Shawn. "I'll never ignore you again," he swore, raising his right hand. "If you _ever_ have a bad feeling about a place, I'm going to trust you."

The Undertaker unfolded his letter carefully, reading the somewhat messy script quickly.

_Dear Mark,_

_Of all of you guys, I think your test required the most energy. It took much magic to conjure up your other self. But do not worry—he only existed in the Horror and Fun House while you were in there. I'm sure he told you as much. Consider him something of an after-image of the Demon you exorcised, born from the memories of him residing within your heart. I'm truly sorry if he was rough with you, but I could not control him any more than you could. He's very...strong. And aggressive. _

_I will not lie to you—of all the wrestlers, you were in the only true danger, because of the nature of your fear. But I knew you'd fight. And even if you didn't—which would have been the worst case scenario—I would have shut down the entire area by cutting the currents of magic that surrounded it... something I think you could have done...well, if you hadn't believed the Dark Lord when he said that he was real, because he wasn't "real" in the same way that you and I are. But you know this already._

_I hope you enjoyed your times at the Horror and Fun House. I look forward to seeing you next year, perhaps?_

_~TVL~_

"Well I'll be damned," 'Taker said softly, folding the letter back up. "Where is she so that I can kill her?"

Shawn laughed. "She figured you'd say something like that, and instead of greeting us directly, she opted to write the letters. She also wanted me to ask you all to forgive her."

Glen shook his head again. "I guess we _have_ to forgive her. She made good on her promise to scare the shit out of us, and we walked into this voluntarily, more or less." He sighed. "And she was smart to choose a bunch of hard-headed professional wrestlers, because we'll never admit openly to being scared to death like that..."

"Which means we won't sue her!" Randy concluded, sitting up suddenly. "Dammit!"

"Dude," Cena said from his cot, turning to look at Orton. "Shut the hell up. Seriously."

The Superstars sat in silence for a few moments, each gathering his thoughts. After getting over the initial anger—and the aftermath of being terrified—it had been an interesting experience...to put it mildly.

"So, Shawn, what happened to you, exactly?" Rey asked from where he was sitting, breaking the silence. "What was your phobia, or test, or whatever?"

Shawn shuddered, and all remaining eyes were on him. "It was weird," he began, blue eyes closing with thought. "When I fell, I landed in some odd room..."

* * *

_Shawn's Test_

Shawn stood up quickly, surprised that he had landed on something soft, and looked around frantically, blue eyes wide with fear. The entire room was well lit, and white—the ceiling, the floor, the walls—and everything was padded. It resembled the cell of a mental-ward patient. The room itself was completely silent, except for the sound of Shawn's breathing. But what was even more unnerving was the _feeling_ of the place—there were obviously several very strong forces at work in the building, and Shawn could only mentally describe them as "presences." Whatever they were, they were sending chills down his spine, especially the one that felt oddly familiar...

"Taker?" he called, recognizing the strongest "feeling." Of course, there was no response, and after a moment of thought, Shawn figured that this was for the best, because the presence that felt like 'Taker was ridiculously strong, and almost...evil. Evil in a way it hadn't been since...maybe 1999?

Whoever it was, he was strong, and nearby, which made Shawn panic.

'Maybe if I'm quiet, he won't know I'm here,' he thought, curling up in a corner of the room. However, as the minutes ticked by, he realized that he wasn't going to be found in here. Not by the mysterious presence...not by anyone.

There was no way in, or out, of the room.

When Shawn first noticed this, he jumped to his feet, feeling along the walls and even the floor, hoping to see at least some hint of a crease that would be a door, or hole, or _something_. He made a circuit of the entire room, seeing nothing that would indicate a way out, and tears began to fill his eyes.

"No...please let me out," he whispered, now pounding on the soft wall. "Let me out!" If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was the silence, and the utter isolation. He absolutely _hated_ being alone. He was trapped, and even worse, he was trapped in a place where no one could find him.

'Or, they might hear me screaming and find me,' he thought, backing away from the confining walls. 'But they won't be able to do anything about it...I'm stuck in here anyway...' As he backed away, however, he stumbled and landed hard on his backside. Wincing, he turned and saw the black jack-in-the-box.

"I hate you," he whispered to the small box, tossing it to the side and watching it bounce against the cushioning of the floor. HBK sat there for a while, simply thinking. He knew that he was going to have a crying fit soon enough, and he wanted to at least collect his thoughts before it happened. He looked around the room again—no windows or doors, padded, well-lit by a single, bright, overhead light on the ceiling. That was it.

Shawn lay back, letting his tears fall freely as he sobbed, the silence starting to get to him even more so now than at first. He let himself cry for a few minutes before sitting up and looking around again. Wall, floor, wall, light, jack-in-the-box, wall...

"Well, at least this will keep me company," he said aloud as he wiped as he eyes, crawling over to the box and beginning to turn the handle. As much as he hated these things, it was the best thing he had at the moment. He vaguely hoped that it could startle him into action, or _something_.

Shawn turned the crank slowly, and as the song came to an end, he prepared himself for an ugly little clown to pop out.

Instead, however, when the top opened, he found himself staring at a thin piece of paper, and it seemed old, as though written on parchment. Carefully, he unfolded it, and saw that it had writing on two sides.

On the first side, there was what had to be a drawing of the entire building, drawn simply, with each floor represented by a simple line. Shawn's eyes widened as read, however, realizing that each floor had a name or two there, although, for some reason, 'Taker's name was on the map twice, in two different areas.

'At least I know where the other guys are now,' he thought, feeling relief wash over him. He found Hunter's name, and it was written on the floor labeled "Basement 1." Shawn's own name was written of the 1st floor, so he figured that he was about at ground level.

HBK flipped the paper over, and saw yet another map. This one, however, was only a square drawn on the white paper, with a circle on the top, and an X right below the circle. Near the X was written, in small letters: _It could always be worse._

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shawn asked, staring hard at the paper. He sat cross legged on in the corner he had claimed as his own and stared at both sides of the paper until his eyes began to water. Obviously, he was supposed to notice something...but what?

Shawn took a deep breath, wiping the tears from his eyes again, and lay back against the cushions.

'C'mon Heartbreak Kid, think,' he coached himself. 'Think, think, think...'

After half an hour of this, he tossed the paper aside with a growl. He turned on his side, and found himself staring at yet another white wall. It was maddening.

"I have to get out of here," Shawn whispered. "This fun house isn't fun at all." He lay on his back again, staring up at the ceiling and the light. "At least it's not dark," he said to himself with a sad chuckle, closing his eyes.

Something occurred to Shawn suddenly, as the thought in his mind completed itself, and he sat bolt upright.

The map on the back—the one with the square—that was the room he was in now! The circle had to be the overhead light, then, and that meant that the X must mark...

Quickly crawling over to where the light was, Shawn began tearing at the cushioning below the light, right where the X would be. He found that it ripped away easily—too easily—and soon he found himself staring at what looked like a light switch. Right above the switch was an inscription: _Once the lights are turned off, they will not turn back on._

"Oh, no," Shawn whispered, moving away from the switch as though it had burned him. The words on the map were right—things _could_ be a lot worse: He could be trapped alone, in silence, _and_ in total darkness. But Shawn had a sinking feeling that that's exactly what whoever had designed this place wanted him to do. He was supposed to turn out the light, only for it to never to come on again...

...and then what?

How long could he last in that state until he gave in to mindless screaming?

"I can't do it," Shawn said softly, shaking his head. "No, I can't turn the light off!" He stood up and began pacing around the room, wondering what he should do, occasionally looking at the switch as his imagination ran wild.

'What if I turn off the light and nothing happens? What if it's just a trick?' HBK shuddered, rubbing his hands along his arms for warmth. 'What if something _worse_ happens? What if I flip the switch and it goes dark and...and an _ax murderer_ comes out of the wall!' Shawn turned around suddenly with a start—he could have sworn he heard something behind him.

Seeing nothing, he groaned. 'Great. Now I'm even more scared than before,' he thought, although it was with surprising clarity. He knew what he had to do, but he wasn't sure he had the courage to do it.

However, as his eyes drifted down to the map, another thought occurred to him. If he was trapped, that meant that Hunter and the others were trapped as well! And, potentially, if he escaped, he could help them, somehow, especially since he held a map of their locations...even the exit was clearly marked....

That seemed motivation enough for the moment.

'Alright, I'll do it...for them,' Shawn thought, kneeling down by the switch. He closed his eyes tightly, saying a short prayer, before flicking the switch.

Shawn was perfectly still for several moments, listening for any sound (specifically, the sound of an ax murderer approaching, whatever that sounded like). He opened his eyes slowly.

It was pitch black.

His immediate reaction was to flip the switch again, hoping for light, but, true to the inscription, the light did not come back on.

'Nothing happened,' Shawn thought, feeling tears gather in his eyes. 'I'm stuck in here, and I'm going to go crazy with screaming and then die...' He lifted his hands to wipe at the tears, but stopped when he realized that he could not see his hand right in front of his face.

And the silence was killing him too.

Breathing heavily, Shawn began to turn, so that he could crawl into his corner again, when something caught his eyes. In fact, it was impossible to miss it, it was so big.

There, drawn in what had to be glow-in-the-dark paint, was a door.

Shawn rubbed his eyes, assuming that he was hallucinating, but, no, the image was still there. He didn't know what to make of it, at first. But whatever it was, it looked like a way out, and that was all he needed right now. With a cry, he stood and ran straight towards the door, throwing his weight against it with all the force he could muster. Worst case scenario, he figured, would be that the door way a trick, and he'd knock himself unconsciousness...and even that wouldn't be too bad, given the circumstances...

However, to his surprise and delight, the drawn-on door was actually the outline of a _real_ door, and it flew open as he collided with it. When Shawn looked up—he had landed on his face—he was outside, in the moonlight, and the night had never looked sweeter. He breathed in the fresh air, shuddering deeply.

"Thank God," he whispered, still shivering.

"Well, well," a voice said from his side, and Shawn turned to see a woman covered by a hooded cloak standing there. "Congratulations, Shawn Michaels." She gave him a little bow, as a man would do, at the waist. "I am TheVampireLucinda, and you have completed your test. You are the first."

Shawn stared at the hooded figure for a moment before standing up. "Where are they?" he demanded, although his voice was still shaking. He held out the map to the figure. "Are they okay?"

The woman laughed, and in the shadows of her hood, Shawn could make out the flash of a smile. "They will all be well, in time." She held out her arm. "Come, Heartbreaker, and I shall explain all to you."

* * *

"And so, I followed her to this recovery room, and she explained it all to me," Shawn said, shrugging. "I was skeptical at first, but when she explained how I was able to escape by facing my fear, I began to believe her. She even showed me a small model of the building, with all of the secret escape doors and everything."

Kane shook his head. "Damn, Shawn, of all people...We should have known you'd be the one to make it out." He gave the Heartbreak Kid a pat on the back. "Good going Shawn. You succeeded where even the Undertaker failed."

'Taker blushed and looked away. "Mine wasn't fair," he said, pouting.

"What happened to you, exactly?" Shawn asked, looking at the taller man curiously. "I want to know what scared you!"

"Yeah...what happened, Bro?" Glen asked.

"Nothing that bears re-telling," was 'Taker's short answer as he began to walk towards the door. "Let's get the hell out of here Glen...I've had enough of this place for one lifetime."

Kane nodded and gave Shawn one last pat. "Congrats," he whispered before heading out with his brother.

"I'm heading out too," Rey announced. "Although...I'd like..." He blushed suddenly, but Cena sat up and raised his hand.

"I'll ride with you," he said quickly.

"Me too," Randy offered, shoving Cena out of the way.

Hunter and Shawn watched them go, and sat together for a while in silence.

"So," Triple H said after a moment, a smirk on his lips. "Was this vampire chick hot?"

Shawn hit him lightly in the arm. "I'm not telling. You'll just have to come next year and pass your test," he said with a laugh. "Although, I don't think you'll come back...seeing as how you're a chicken..."

"Shawn..." Hunter said warningly, knowing what was coming.

"Actually, I think you're more of a _baby_."

"Shawn Michaels..."

"Oh, _I know_," the Heartbreak Kid said with a spark of mischief in his blue eyes. "You're a _baby_ _chicken_. You're a _chick_!" He stood up and began to circle Hunter, clucking and making random baby noises. And all the while, the Game sat there, red, wishing he had never come to this damn "Horror and Fun House" in the first place.

**The End**

* * *

_See? Everyone's okay. XD I'm not that evil... (chuckles) Well, I **am**... (laughs)  
_

_Hope you liked it! And, last time..._

_Review? _

* * *


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